


Dragons and Magic and Love

by snibnoom



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 02:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17674799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snibnoom/pseuds/snibnoom
Summary: Finding out if you found your soulmate is a potentially dangerous experience.





	Dragons and Magic and Love

**Author's Note:**

> _“King of sky and queen of land_
> 
> _Webs of light for them to command_
> 
> _Trenches to peaks to rolling hills_
> 
> _A fate to give or a fate to kill_
> 
> _Two souls with string the magic binds_
> 
> _Individual lives intertwined_
> 
> _A chain has been broken_
> 
> _So beware the words spoken_
> 
> _By beasts with wings and yellow eyes_
> 
> _For all in their presence will surely die.”_
> 
> -Anonymous

 

Minhyuk stares up at the old brick building, at the flags dangling from the second story windows and the hand-painted sign above the door.  _ Madame’s Magical Market.  _ It’s hardly the type of shop Minhyuk wants to enter. He’s heard stories about the dragons that resurfaced thirty years ago. He’s seen the dramatic paintings of their massive bodies unfolding from the sides of mountains and the hot air they blew into the skies. He’s listened to the poems about their massive bodies condensing in a flash of light into the body of a woman with hooves for feet or the sharp face of a man with blue skin.

 

Bin slings an arm around Minhyuk’s waist. “We’ll be fine. I mean, it’s the only way to know for sure, right?”

 

Minhyuk frowns. “I don’t know, Bin. It gives me a bad feeling.”

 

“What are you so afraid of? Even if there’s no magic between you and me, I’m still going to love you the same.”

 

Minhyuk looks up at Bin, a few inches taller than himself. He’s known Bin his entire life. They used to go to the same daycare and, when Minhyuk moved across the country when he was seven, they would write letters to each other. He finally moved back last year, bringing with him a thick accent and a love for his best friend. Minhyuk clings to that love, and the chance that a dragon might tell him it isn’t meant to be carves a hole in his chest.

 

When the dragons came back, they brought with them warnings and promises. Minhyuk, like every other person alive in the last thirty years, has learned it all. The dragons boasted most of the skill to see the threads of life and weave them together. Mythologists and classics called the dragons  _ fates,  _ swearing up and down that they were the returns of the long-forgotten incarnations of destiny. The common person broke down the mysticism of the magic the dragons brought. It was simple. The dragons control who a person’s soulmate is.

 

“My grandmother said to never trust a dragon,” Minhyuk says. “She went to a dragon with her husband and the dragon told them that they weren’t soulmates and it ruined their marriage.”

 

Bin cups his jaw with both hands. “Are you worried this is going to change things?”

 

Minhyuk hesitates before nodding. He doesn’t want to lose Bin. He might as well rip his physical heart out if he’s going to lose Bin.

 

Bin kisses him. His lips are soft and warm, and one of his hands slides to hold the back of Minhyuk’s neck. Minhyuk loves when he does that. He loves when Bin holds him and kisses him without worry of who might stare. He loves when Bin hugs him and brushes the hair off his forehead. He loves the love he sees reflected in Bin’s eyes.

 

Bin pulls out of the kiss and hugs him. “It won’t change anything.” He leans away only far enough to look Minhyuk in the eyes. “Even if the dragon in there tells me that I’m not meant to be with you, I’m going to stay with you because you’re wonderful and I love you. Got it?”

 

Minhyuk smiles, gripping the edges of Bin’s coat. “Let’s do it.”

 

If magic had a smell, it would smell like the inside of this shop. Heavy spice and floral scents underlined with something rotting assaults Minhyuk's nose as soon as they walk in. A bell above the door rings to announce their entrance, but Minhyuk doesn’t hear a greeting.

 

“I’ve never been in one of these shops,” Bin whispers. “You haven’t, right?”

 

Minhyuk shakes his head. He’s far too much of a coward to venture into a dragon’s shop on his own.

 

“Wonder what it’s all used for.” Bin keeps him close, tugging him by his hand toward a shelf lined with jars. There are glass beads and small crystals and feathers and loops of string. “There’s this guy, Dongmin, who says a dragon lives in the room next to his. He says it always smells like sulfur around midnight.”

 

“Sulfur?” Minhyuk grimaces. “You mean, like, burnt eggs?”

 

Bin nods. “He says it’s only around midnight, just for a minute or two and then it’s gone.” Bin weaves between a set of stools, reaching for a large red stone. He huffs when he picks it up. “Heavier than it looks. Wanna hold it?”

 

Minhyuk shakes his head. “You shouldn’t touch anything, Bin. You don’t know what it does.”

 

Bin considers the stone, holding it up at eye level. “What do you think this is for?”

 

“It’s for purifying souls.”

 

Minhyuk squeezes Bin’s hand as he peers around his taller frame. A woman stands only a few feet away from them. The long, white braid wrapped around the top of her head contrasts with her tan skin. Her dull green eyes make Minhyuk’s stomach flip. In place of where she should have circular pupils are thin slits.

 

“Purifying?” Bin sets the stone back down on the shelf. “Why would you need to— Actually, never mind. I don’t want to know. My boyfriend and I, we came here to—”

 

“Follow me.” She turns, gracefully sidestepping a pedestal where a tattered book sits.

 

Bin glances at him. “Okay?”

 

Minhyuk nods as worms of anxiety squirm up his throat.

 

The shadows seem like walls the deeper into the narrow shop they walk. Minhyuk clings to the back of Bin’s jacket, tripping over bumps in the wooden floor in a few places. Bin is steady ahead of him. He’s always been steady, firm, strong.

 

Minhyuk pushes through the beaded curtain after Bin. This room in the back of the shop flickers with candlelight. The woman with white hair and cat eyes—the  _ dragon _ —sits behind a table with her hands folded on top. Bin pulls them to the chairs opposite her, keeping hold of Minhyuk’s hand the whole time.

 

“Lovers,” she breathes after a moment of silence. Her voice sounds like falling flower petals. “You come seeking answers.”

 

Bin nods, glancing between her and Minhyuk. “Yes, we want to know if we’re soulmates. I’m Bin. This is Minhyuk. I don’t— The shop— Are  _ you  _ Madame?”

 

“I am.” Her face is like stone as her eyes flick to Minhyuk. “Do you love him?”

 

Bin leans forward. “I do, really. He’s the brightest part of my life.”

 

Even in the face of danger, Bin is charming. Minhyuk bites his bottom lip to hide his grin. He loves him. He loves Bin’s way with words. He loves the sincerity in his voice.

 

The dragon’s eyes flash, the dull green becoming neon for a split second. She hums and leans forward. Minhyuk holds his breath as she mutters something in a language he doubts anyone knows and her eyes are neon, the color staying.

 

“Freaky,” Bin mutters.

 

“Quiet,” she snaps.

 

Minhyuk squeezes Bin’s hand as the dragon’s eyes dart around the room, seeing something neither of them can. Her hands swipe through the air quickly in sharp patterns. Minhyuk swears that the flames in the room burn brighter as her hands turn into fists before she drops her arms. She blinks, and the neon tone of her eyes is gone.

 

“Yes.” She straightens her back and pushes her shoulders back. “The threads smile on you.”

 

Relief floods Minhyuk, but Bin beats him to speak. “Thank you. That was—”

 

“Leave me.” The dragon stands, pointing to the arch they entered through. “I must rest.”

 

Minhyuk doesn’t recognize how fast his heart is beating until the shop door closes behind him. Bin laughs loudly, arms wrapping around his waist as he spins him. Minhyuk clings to him, catching sight of a few bystanders staring at them, but he doesn’t care. He draws Bin to him and kisses him deeply, arms winding around shoulders.

 

Bin pulls away first. “I told you!” he shouts. “I knew it. I just  _ knew  _ we had to be.”

 

Minhyuk tugs Bin down by his coat and kisses him again. “I knew it, too, you know.”

 

Bin rolls his eyes. “Oh, don’t you start. You were terrified we wouldn’t be!”

 

“I was not!” Minhyuk pushes Bin’s chest, making him stumble. He coughs out a laugh, reaching to steady him.

 

“You’re pushing it,” Bin says with a pout. “I can still go, you know. I can leave.”

 

Minhyuk rolls his eyes and pulls Bin into another kiss.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me [ for updates on future fics and spoilers for everything I write!](https://twitter.com/snibwrites)


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